Poll: Obama slides slighty on the economy

The Pew Reserach Center released some new polling numbers that appear to reinforce the results of the NBC/Wall Street Journal polled released Wednesday.

The Pew survey found that Obama continues to ride high personal favorability numbers but that his economic policies and handling of General Motors and Chrysler get significantly lower marks.

Obama has a 61 percent job approval rating in the Pew poll, just up from the 56 percent in the NBC/WSJ poll. And similarly, 53 percent in the Pew survey approve of his handling of the economy, that's down from 60 percent in April.

In the NBC/WSJ poll, 51 percent approved of Obama on the economy, down from 55 percent in April.

The good news for Obama is that respondents in the Pew survey continue to say his policies will right the economy. Sixty-five percent believe they will improve the economic crisis and 55 percent say he will reduce the budget deficit in the long term.

Also, more than half said Obama's economic policies have not had an effect so far or it is too early to tell if they have.

Obama gets his worse marks on how he has handled the U.S. automakers. About the same percentage disapprove as approve of his role in the General Motors and Chrysler. More, nearly six in 10 disapprove of the government spending billions to keep the automakers in business.

Nevertheless, Obama rides high popularity ratings: More than seven in 10 continue to have a favorable view of the president.

There was a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent in the Pew poll.